Phoenix
by Erendhyl
Summary: -Who’s to say that when one world ends, another doesn’t begin? New life comes from the ashes of old…- AU, timetravel, ONESHOT


Phoenix

**Not disclaimer Naruto I do own. If only I could get away with that. Rearrange it. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Author's Note: I know, I know, this site really doesn't need **_**another**_** time travel story. (I say it needs all of them it could get, but apparently most people are beginning to think it's overdone.) But, in my defense, I came up with the idea for this story **_**last October, over one year ago**_**, and it has refused to leave me alone since. I want it out of my head already! Also, it is somewhat different from other time travel fics, mainly because IT IS A ONESHOT. Please, do **_**not **_**leave a review that says this was a "great chapter; can't wait for the next one." (Although, feel free to leave a review. In fact, please do.)**

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**_Who's to say that when one world ends, another doesn't begin? New life comes from the ashes of old…_

XXX

The scene was horribly familiar. His friend's back was to him once again. Naruto could scarcely see Sasuke's outline in the dim light filtering into the abandoned lair, but it was there. His best friend was just in front of him, separated by mere meters of physical space and yet more out of reach than the moon. The Uchiha survivor pointedly refused to turn to look at him, instead taking a step forward, away from Naruto, deeper into the darkness that filled the lair.

"So you're just walking away from me again, teme," Naruto addressed the other ninja. His voice was different from the last time. Then, it had been filled with the pain and desperation born from the fear of losing his closest friend. Now, it was cold, dangerous. The voice of a shinobi warrior addressing an enemy.

Sasuke turned to face him, just as he had on that day, more than three years ago. Unlike then, his left eye was not the sickening yellow color that signifed the activation of the second state of his curse seal. Instead, it was the same color as his right, the black color of the sky on nights with no moon. It was just as bleak and lifeless as that sky.

"Are you still following me, dobe," Sasuke said, more of a statement than a question. His expression hardened. "I've already told you, I severed all of my bonds with Konoha long ago. Nothing that you say now can change that."

"We really mean nothing to you, Sasuke," Naruto said, barely managing to keep the pain and defeat out of his voice.

"You mean nothing to me," his former comrade confirmed.

"Then… why are you here?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's expression became something that would have been a smirk, once upon a time. When he had been a ninja of Konohagakure, the Uchiha's face had formed that expression many times, generally when he was sneering at Naruto's poor abilities. Naruto had thought Sasuke was cold and emotionless then. Now, however, he learned that that Sasuke had been almost welcoming. In Konoha, Sasuke's smirks had always held some degree of emotion, whether it was pride in his own skills compared to the "dead last," or, later on, a small amount of fondness that was all Sasuke was ever willing to show to indicate their friendship. This smirk, however, was empty of either of those emotions. It was just there, the face put on by a man who was nothing.

"I would have thought that even you, Naruto, would have known why I'd be anywhere. I'm after Itachi. He told me to meet him in this cave for our fight." Naruto's eyes widened slightly in shock, something that he hoped Sasuke would be unable to notice in the dim light of the cave. _Th-that's impossible! _his thoughts cried. There was no way that Sasuke could be here to fight Itachi. That wasn't what was supposed to happen! That wasn't what _he_ had said would happen!

That wasn't what Itachi had said when Naruto had met up with him not so long ago.

_Flashback_

"_I can't afford to run this time!" Naruto declared, staring boldly at Itachi. "I have to capture you so I can find Sasuke!" Itachi looked slightly confused by his declaration, staring back at him for almost a full minute before responding._

_"What is it about my brother that makes you care about him so much?" he asked. "He's a rogue ninja who abandoned you." Naruto's expression was completely serious when he replied._

_"Because he's more of a brother to me than he ever was to you."_

_For a second Itachi simply looked astonished that Naruto possessed such unwavering loyalty to Sasuke, even after all the younger Uchiha had done. After a moment, he smirked, pleased by what he had heard._

_Naruto did not notice the new expression on Itachi's face. Preoccupied as he was with capturing the infamous missing-nin, he had charged forward without bothering to wait to witness Itachi's unusual reaction._

_Itachi was ready for the attack. Frontal assaults were what one came to expect when dealing with Uzumaki Naruto, especially when the blond ninja had emotional involvements in the fight. The former Uchiha heir drew back his Akatsuki cloak, revealing a flock of crows that flew at Naruto. The blond kitsune container's eyes widened as he noticed what was odd about the birds. Every single one of them had a fully evolved Sharingan shining in their eyes._

_"You are already trapped in my illusion," Itachi's voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere._

_"Fuck," Naruto growled, furious that he had been ensnared in a genjutsu so easily despite all of his precautions._

_"I'll say it once more," Itachi said, crows merging together to create his form in front of Naruto. "I only wish to talk with you." Naruto gritted his teeth._

_"Why should I trust anything you say?!" he snapped. "You're the one who caused Sasuke all this trouble in the first place! You're a traitorous bastard who joined Akatsuki and killed tons of innocent people! Why should I listen to a word you say?!"_

_"Because I can help you find Sasuke." Naruto froze in shock at the answer. Why would Itachi, Sasuke's mortal enemy, want Naruto to find him? Itachi hated Sasuke; his actions towards his younger brother had more than proved that. Why, then, was he helping an ally of Sasuke's reunite with him? It didn't make any sense; there had to be some kind of trick. And yet, even knowing that Itachi definitely had some hidden purpose behind this…_

_"What is it?" he snapped, still not entirely sure whether or not he trusted the missing-nin. But, if Itachi could lead him to Sasuke, trust didn't matter._

_Once again, Naruto did not notice that Itachi had smirked at his obsession with finding Sasuke. Even though he may not trust Itachi himself, this boy would obviously do anything if it would enable him to find the younger Uchiha. Such devotion would be beneficial to Itachi's plans._

_"The Uchiha clan's only base is not in Konohagakure. There is also a secret hideout, the location of which is known only to members of the clan. Sasuke will meet you there. If he comes, it will mean that he is ready to return to the village."_

_"Wait! How do I get to this Uchiha clan hideout thing?" Naruto asked. It was all very well and good to know that Sasuke would be at an Uchiha clan hideout, but as Itachi had said, the location was known only to members of the Uchiha clan, and Naruto definitely was not an Uchiha. Itachi smirked once again._

_"I'll tell you…" _

_End flashback_

Why had Itachi told Naruto to come here to bring Sasuke home if Sasuke himself had only come here on the idea that he would be allowed to fight his brother?

_Of course,_ Naruto reflected bitterly,_ it's not like I should have actually ever trusted that bastard._ Itachi had lied to him. It was painfully obvious now. He had summoned Sasuke here to finish their struggle once and for all. Once his younger brother was out of the way, he would capture Naruto so that the Akatsuki would be able to extract the Kyuubi. It was so convenient for him. If he called Naruto here now, there was no chance that he would somehow find out that Sasuke was dead and sense the trap. Two of his impediments would have been eliminated with one blow. Additionally, he wouldn't have to worry about Naruto teaming up with Sasuke to defeat him, because the blond kitsune container had personally revealed that he cared enough about Sasuke to honor his wishes and allow him his own revenge.

"Have you figured it out, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, appearing in the shadows. Naruto's hand instinctively reached for a kunai as Sasuke drew his katana.

"It's been a long time… aniki," the younger Uchiha brother coldly addressed his sibling, turning to face him as his Sharingan activated. Itachi returned his stare with one of equal coldness.

"I am not interested in you at the moment," Itachi said harshly, using the same words that he had during their meeting three years ago. "My business at the moment is with Naruto-kun. Until that is taken care of, our fight is of no concern to me." Sasuke's face contorted in an expression of sheer rage before he managed to disguise the feeling behind his usual mask of apathy.

"It's the same as last time, isn't it?" he said quietly, not really caring for an answer. "Your true purpose is Naruto. I'm just the sideshow." He paused, drawing in a deep breath as some of the fury returned to his face. "But I won't let it be like that this time! I'm no longer some pathetic Konoha genin that you can cast aside like dirt. I've trained for three years, and in that time I have become strong. You will not defeat me this time! Itachi!"

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, feeling a mixture of alarm and pity for his friend. Alarm because Sasuke was responding to Itachi's goading exactly like he had that first time, and Naruto could only fear in his heart that even with the astonishing growth Sasuke had accomplished in the past three years, he still wouldn't be strong enough to defeat his brother. Pity because, even after all Sasuke had done to him, to Konoha, to everyone… he didn't deserve this. Underneath his harsh avenger shell, Naruto could see that Sasuke was just a scared little kid who had lost everything. He was just a victim.

The Uchiha didn't even turn at his voice. All his attention was focused solely on Itachi. Naruto could feel the change in the atmosphere as Sasuke began to gather his chakra, focusing so intently that the energy and tension in the cave were almost palpable. His curse seal spread from the mark on his neck, rapidly engulfing his body in black flame-like marks and accelerating itself into the second state in a matter of moments, though his wings did not appear.

"I am not your foolish little brother any longer," he said coldly, raising his katana as he began to channel Chidori into it.

"That's right, Sasuke," said a new voice. "Instead, you are possibly even more foolish than Itachi thought." The figure that stepped out of the shadows wore the same cloak as Itachi, marking him as a member of the Akatsuki. His face was concealed behind an orange spiraled mask, through which only his right eye could be seen. Naruto froze at the sight of it. Even though the darkness of the cave prevented him from clearly seeing, the jolt of recognition sent to him by the Kyuubi let him know what the man's eye was. _Sharingan._

"Madara-sama," Itachi addressed the newcomer, an edge in his voice. _Madara?_ Naruto wondered. It was the same name that the Kyuubi had used when he met Sasuke six months ago at Orochimaru's lair. The fox had said that Sasuke's chakra was just like Uchiha Madara's.

Apparently Sasuke recognized the name as well. His grip tightened on his sword. "I don't care what it is you want with me or with the idiot over there," he told Madara, "but you're not getting in the way of my fight." The other blinked his single Sharingan eye, unfazed. Before Sasuke even had time to prepare an attack, Madara had made his first move. Black flames suddenly appeared, burning Sasuke's shoulder. He gritted his teeth, grunting in pain as he clutched at the wound.

"Amaterasu?" he gasped. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan faded from Madara's eye, reverting back to the three-pronged regular Sharingan he naturally possessed.

"The technique was not at its full power, as I'm sure you can tell, but I think that it was sufficient for getting the message across. You fight me." He turned to look at Naruto, some unreadable emotion appearing in his eye. "Both of you." Sasuke scowled, charging forward with his Chidori-enhanced katana.

"Like hell I'll fight with that dobe!"

Madara didn't even blink in the face of Sasuke's attack. He merely stepped to the side, causing the younger Uchiha to charge right past him. Before Sasuke had time to turn around, Madara kicked him sharply in the back, slamming the younger Uchiha into the rock wall of the cave.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, concerned for his friend. He drew a kunai, preparing to attack Madara to prevent the elder Uchiha from doing any further harm to Sasuke. From his position against the wall of the cave, Sasuke's eyes opened, tired and pained. This weakness instantly vanished at the sight of Naruto preparing to attack. The Snake Sannin's former apprentice sprang forward, using the inhuman speed he had developed during his time in Otogakure to reach his goal. Instead of attacking Madara, he flew at Naruto, striking the Konoha ninja backwards with the flat of his sword. Naruto landed on the floor of the cave, staring up at Sasuke with an unreadable mixture of emotion in his eyes.

"Stay out of this, Dead Last," Sasuke snarled at him. "This is my fight." There was no hint of compromise in his blood-red Sharingan eyes. Instead of inspiring fear in Naruto, as it had for so many other ninja, Sasuke's rage only aggravated him.

"You think you can handle this guy by yourself teme?!" he cried. "He's kicking your ass, and he's not even trying! If you try to fight him, you'll die!" Sasuke's eyes narrowed in fury.

"Shut up," he said icily, turning sharply away from Naruto to return to _his_ fight. The Uzumaki gritted his teeth before leaping up and running forward.

"I'm not just gonna stand by and let you kill yourself!" he shouted at Sasuke, already forming a very familiar hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A second Naruto appeared beside him. The clone moved beside the original, moving his hands around the right palm of the first. A blue sphere of chakra began to form in the original Naruto's hand. "Rasengan!" they both cried.

The three tomoe in Madara's fully evolved Sharingan spun ominously before merging together into the single pattern of his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He stared at Naruto with the same fixed gaze he had used on Sasuke. The Konoha ninja realized what he was going to do a second before it happened, and a second too late to have any hope of dodging.

Black flames sprung up on his left arm, burning through his coat and scorching his flesh. "Gaah!" he cried in pain, his arm jerking wildly as his body fought to rid itself of the fire. The edge of his Rasengan struck the cave floor, drilling into the rock with all of its deadly force. The dislodged pieces flew about randomly, many of them striking Naruto himself. He cried out again as the projectiles stung his body, creating painful bruises and occasionally drawing blood. The force behind the blow of a particularly large rock sent him flying backwards, landing in a painful and bruised heap on the ground some meters back. "Ow," he moaned softly. He raised his eyes to find Sasuke glaring at him, an almost rage in the Uchiha's eyes.

"I _told_ you not to fight him," Sasuke snarled, raw fury in his voice.

"Yeah, well," Naruto began, sitting up and rubbing some of his aches, "I don't really listen to you very often." Sasuke growled to show he was not amused. "Look, do you really think I'll just sit here quietly Sasuke?!" Naruto snapped at his friend. "I'm a ninja too, and I'm not going to let you do all the fighting."

"You will," Sasuke began in a quiet and dangerous voice, "_not_ interfere with this fight. This is my revenge. If you insist on butting in here, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"That's not Itachi we're fighting," Naruto pointed out. "I'd never interfere with your revenge Sasuke, but this guy isn't the one you want to fight. He's just some guy standing in the way, and I want to help you get rid of him. I promise I'll leave Itachi to you." Sasuke's face remained cold and inhospitable, and for one agonizing moment Naruto thought that he was going to refuse anyway. Then, Sasuke's expression relaxed and he nodded. Naruto had never yet gone back on one of his promises. If he said he would leave Itachi to Sasuke, then Sasuke would be allowed to fight his brother alone.

"Remember though, dobe, if you get in my way there, you will die." Naruto nodded seriously. He knew firsthand how much revenge meant to Sasuke. He had no doubt that the younger Uchiha would make good of his promise if Naruto meddled in that fight.

Sasuke smirked at him as he prepared to attack. Seeing that smirk, Naruto couldn't help the rush of emotion that engulfed him. He knew that Sasuke had changed over the last three years. He knew that the Uchiha would not hesitate to kill him now if he thought there was something to gain from it. He knew that the Sasuke he had known as a rookie genin was possibly lost forever. Even knowing all that, he couldn't help the feeling of joy he felt at seeing that familiar smirk for the first time in three long years. He couldn't help but feel his best friend had been returned to him.

Sadly he shook his head to dispel such thoughts. The Sasuke he had known in Konoha wasn't here right now. He wasn't gone forever, Naruto could never even begin to think that, but the Sasuke there was not him. The old Sasuke, the _good_ Sasuke, wouldn't return—couldn't return—until Itachi was dead, his revenge was accomplished, and he was free to live his own life again. Until that happened, they were stuck with the new Sasuke. The Sasuke to whom Konoha meant nothing. The Sasuke to whom Naruto meant nothing.

"Naruto," Sasuke addressed him, jolting the blond out of his reverie, "can you create enough of your Kage Bunshin to distract him?" Naruto nodded, it would be easy for him to make that many Shadow Clones. "Good," Sasuke continued. "Once he's busy fighting the clones, I'll use my Chidori to finish him off." Naruto opened his mouth to protest the futility of using an attack that required physical contact against somebody of this level, though Sasuke cut him off. "I've improved it," he explained. "I can manipulate its shape, so that it looks like a katana. I can increase its size to a range of five meters." Naruto nodded; basically it was the same thing he had done when he created the RasenShuriken.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, forming the seal as literally hundreds of Shadow Clones appeared beside him. "Chaaarge!" he directed them, extending his hand in Madara's direction. The army of clones attacked, mainly using kunai and shuriken, though one or two groups had teamed up to create Rasengan.

However, they were already disappearing at an alarming rate. In the single minute since Naruto had first created the clones, nearly half of them were destroyed. Naruto knew that his chakra was distributed evenly amid the many clones, meaning that they each had less than one percent of his actual amount of chakra, but even so, they should be holding up better! This Madara guy, whatever he was, was definitely powerful.

Beside him, Sasuke appeared to notice the clones' plight. He performed a series of hand seals, resulting in a mass of lighting chakra appearing in his right hand. Instead of just attacking there, as he had when they were younger, Sasuke forced the chakra, manipulating its shape until it became a blade. He extended this quickly, slicing mercilessly through the ranks of Kage Bunshin towards Madara. The ancient Uchiha's Sharingan caught sight of the attack moments before it hit him. Quickly he performed a series of hand seals.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu **(Replacement Technique)**," he intoned. Suddenly it was not Uchiha Madara who was in the path of the Chidori blade. It was the original Naruto.

Sasuke had no time to cancel his attack. Even for the apprentice of one of the Sannin, completely cancelling a jutsu with so little notice was unachievable. All Sasuke could manage was to lessen it, so that instead of killing Naruto the blade only sliced though his skin, cutting shallowly enough that it did not hit any vital organs. It was still serious. Numbness rapidly spread from the wound, erasing all feeling in Naruto's chest. This was probably for the best however, judging by the amount of blood that was seeping from the wound. He would need to deal with this soon, or else the stories would have to say that the great and powerful candidate for Rokudaime Hokage had died not in a heroic battle to save the village from a powerful and deadly threat, but of simple blood loss.

"A little stupid, wasn't that?" Madara asked Sasuke from the place beside him where Naruto had stood only moments before. The younger Uchiha gritted his teeth, angry at having been deceived by an Academy-level jutsu like the Kawarimi. "I mean really, you're supposedly a ninja genius, you'd think that you would have been able to avoid something like that."

"Shut—argh!" Sasuke's voice cut off as he cried out in pain. Madara had kicked him sharply in the rib cage, another simple blow he should have been strong enough to dodge, sending him flying painfully back several feet. He stood up slowly, the blood-red of his Sharingan glaring at Madara the whole time. Without once turning his gaze from Madara, Sasuke slid his arms out of the sleeves of his white shirt, leaving it hanging loosely about his waist. The gray flesh just below his shoulders bubbled sickeningly as his two massive, hand-shaped wings grew. It was a demonic, full curse-seal-level-two Sasuke that faced Madara with its angry, bloody red eyes. For just a moment, the demon turned its eyes from Madara, instead finding the lurking form of Uchiha Itachi.

"I was saving this for you, aniki," Sasuke told him somberly. No trace of emotion could be seen in the eyes of the elder Uchiha brother. "Naruto," Sasuke said, turning to his friend, "can you and a clone use your Rasengan to drill through the top of this cave?"

"S-sure," Naruto said, uncertain as to why Sasuke wanted him to do that but willing to follow his friend's lead. One of the few remaining clones dashed over to him and began moving his hands around to form the blue chakra sphere. Once it was complete, the clone teamed up with three others to launch the original Naruto at the top of the cave, the blue Rasengan glowing all the while.

"Yaah!" he cried as he drove his hand forward, his jutsu drilling through the layers of rock to the sky above. Thick clouds obscured the sun, allowing scarcely any light to filter through to illuminate the situation in the cave.

Sasuke's hands began to weave a sequence of hand seals almost as soon as the hole in the cave was complete. Itachi quirked an eyebrow as he recognized which jutsu they were for. Surely his little brother was not so foolish as to think that he could take out Madara with a technique like _that_?

"Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu," Sasuke said, his voice still bare of any emotion. The large fireball erupted from his throat, far stronger than it had ever been when he was a genin. Even still, it was only a C-rank jutsu, and an easy one to dodge at that.

But the fireball wasn't aimed at Madara. It was not aimed at Itachi either. Instead, it went through the newly created hole in the cave, losing itself among the clouds of the sky. Sasuke smirked, a small bit of the old Sasuke showing through in that brief facial expression.

The winds picked up as the clouds thickened, becoming even darker cumulonimbus clouds. Rain began to fall, drenching the four in a matter of moments. The first few bolts of lightning crackled in the storm.

"I call this, 'Kirin,'" Sasuke informed Madara coolly, reaching out one of his hands. A bolt of lightning from the storm leapt from the sky suddenly, aimed directly at his outstretched hands. When it stuck, instead of burning the young Uchiha, it merely collected, pooling in his hand like the Chidori did. "Its source of power is the lightning of heaven itself. This is not some simple ninjutsu, relying on the chakra of the user to give it power. This is so much more." His expression suddenly hardened, and he glared at Madara with pure hate in his eyes. "You've delayed my true fight long enough. Die!" The lightning sprang towards Madara, moving too fast for the ancient Uchiha to even have a hope of dodging. Sasuke smirked, already anticipating his victory.

It struck with a peal of thunder that nearly deafened Naruto from his vantage point on top of the cave. His eyes lit up with happiness for Sasuke. As much as he abhorred killing, he couldn't help but feel proud at his friend's prowess, nor could he prevent the small leap of his heart that occurred at the thought of Sasuke finally having his revenge, of not needing to be a missing-nin any longer… of being able to come home to him and Sakura at long last. If Sasuke was powerful enough to have a technique like that Kirin then surely he would stand a chance, possibly even win against Itachi. He could come home. There was no way Madara could have survived that.

The lightning cleared, revealing its results. A creator had been blasted in the rock, the result of the immense power of Sasuke's attack. However, the body of Madara was not there. Instead of lying there, dead, as he should have, he was standing, virtually unharmed. There was no way Madara could have survived that…

"I have to admit Sasuke; that was a pretty powerful technique. If I hadn't used this, I would have been obliterated," the Uchiha head said. "I don't believe that you've seen it before. Sasuke, I'm sure that you're familiar with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. This is the third technique of the Mangekyo Sharingan: Susano'o." A giant ethereal warrior stood behind him. Its face was that of a nightmare, each of its fanged teeth easily as long as Sasuke's legs. The entire being was translucent, its form undulating like flame.

"Su… sano'o," Naruto breathed in shock at the sight of the monster. He stared at it, stuck speechless with a mixture of awe and dread, before shaking himself furiously. _I can't afford to think like that. We have to defeat this guy; otherwise Sasuke'll never come back. It doesn't matter how strong he is. I have to be stronger._ His eye flashed with determination, and he stared down at the monster without fear. _Still,_ he thought, _this thing's dangerous. There's no way I could take it out with just my regular jutsu._ "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he whispered, hoping not to draw attention to himself. He appeared to have succeeded; no one made a move to attack him as the two Shadow Clones appeared beside him. The original Naruto began to gather his chakra into his right hand, as he would for a normal Rasengan. One of the clones moved its hands around as though it was performing Rasengan as well, but the other did something different. As it had learned to do only recently, the third clone manipulated the nature type of his chakra, changing it from the elementally neutral state in which it naturally existed into the cutting wind-type chakra that was so rare among shinobi. _Sakura-chan told me Tsunade Obaa-chan said I shouldn't use this technique, but if I don't, Sasuke will never come home. I think that Sakura-chan would understand. I hope she does._ The clones' efforts began to combine together, the chakra's elemental state changing as well as its physical form. The result was a glowing four-pointed mass of chakra concentrated in his right hand. "RasenShuriken!"

The last time he had used this jutsu, every nerve in every one of the cells of his arm had been completely severed. Tsunade had told him to never use it again, saying that it was too dangerous. Right now though, he didn't care about any of that. This was his most powerful technique, the only thing he had that stood a chance against that _thing_. If he could defeat the Susano'o, then Sasuke could use the opening to attack Madara, and Naruto was confident that his best friend would be able to win with the chakra drain Madara was sure to have suffered from using Susano'o. And if Sasuke defeated Madara, then he would be able to fight Itachi; he could have his revenge… he could come home. Even the possibility of that coming true was worth Naruto's sacrifice. It didn't matter that he was disobeying Tsunade by using this jutsu. He had something far more important to preserve by doing so: his word as a ninja and the Promise of a Lifetime that he had made to Sakura. Upholding that promise was worth any sacrifice, even the damage that would be sustained by his arm and the potential loss of his career as a ninja. If Sasuke came back to them, it would have been more than worth it.

Naruto took a deep breath, and leapt.

"Take this! RasenShuriken!" he cried, slamming the RasenShuriken into the Susano'o warrior. His eyes widened almost immediately. _I-it's not strong enough!_ How could that be possible? The RasenShuriken was his most powerful attack; if it couldn't defeat Madara's technique he didn't have anything else left. It had to work! Naruto set his teeth, forcing more of his chakra into the jutsu.

Naruto felt himself tiring rapidly as more and more of his energy was forced into the jutsu. He had never done this before; normally once a Rasengan was created the chakra would just keep spiraling around itself and no further chakra would need to be used. _Come on!_ His chakra was already diminished from creating all those clones earlier. While that drain normally would not have shown, the RasenShuriken took a lot out of him. On top of that, forcing more chakra into the jutsu was making it unstable, requiring more effort than usual to keep it going. Still it was doing nothing to the Susano'o warrior, and if he didn't defeat it soon then Sasuke wouldn't be able to fight Itachi.

_Shit!_ Naruto thought, his eyes widening again. The chakra leaking into the RasenShuriken had become red, dying the blue glow with a bloody crimson. He hadn't meant to draw on the Kyuubi's power; Yamato had warned him against this…

Even as he realized the ills of drawing on the demon's power, the change became apparent. While before the RasenShuriken appeared to have been doing nothing but stalling the Susano'o warrior, now it was visibly damaging it. The ghostly form was whipping about furiously, shook up by the power of his technique. It was already beginning to dissipate, the remains dissolving into the air as though they had never been. Naruto's face lit up; he had defeated it! His RasenShuriken vanished as the last strands of the ethereal warrior melted like mist before the morning sun. He had done it; he had won; Sasuke would have his fight now.

In his elation, Naruto made the fatal mistake of not paying attention.

Madara outright snarled in fury at the defeat of his technique, though the facial expression was hidden by his mask. His Sharingan whirled ominously as he recalled the jutsu the boy had used earlier, drawing upon his own chakra. That blue chakra sphere, the Rasengan. The Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki appeared to have forgotten one of the most basic powers of the Sharingan: its ability to recreate any jutsu it saw. Chakra began to swirl in his hand as he compressed it, forming a lethal drill-like technique.

The sound of chakra swirling that marked the creation of his now-signature technique caused Naruto to turn, catching sight of the danger he was in for the first time. He instantly prepared to dodge, only to freeze, clutching his stomach moments later. He hadn't used the Kyuubi's chakra in so long that his body was responding to it as a foreign invader. All of his own chakra was being used in an attempt to defeat the other chakra, an attempt made futile by the Kyuubi's limitless energy. This battle inside of him left the chakra he was able to use dangerously close absolute zero, leaving him barely even able to remain standing, let alone even considering leaping out of the way.

His eyes widened as for the first time he genuinely feared that he would lose his life.

Madara smirked at the terror in the blond's eyes. There was nothing in his way. Uzumaki Naruto would be defeated here. There was no doubt that the Rasengan would be too weak to kill him, not when he had the Kyuubi's chakra healing him. However, demon-enhanced healing or not, he was still human. And the Rasengan would leave him wounded enough that he would not be able to resist as he was captured and taken to the Akatsuki base, where the Kyuubi would be extracted from him. Through his simple idiocy in insisting to fight beside his friend, the Akatsuki had just gained the most powerful bijuu in the world.

He charged, grinning with triumph behind his mask. He had won, there was nothing left to stop him once he had the Kyuubi back under his control.

The Rasengan met flesh and was answered with a spurt of blood. The red liquid spurted forth, drenching Madara in a crimson tide. His mouth formed an elated expression as he raised his gaze from the mortal wound he had just dealt to the pain filled eyes of its recipient.

The onyx eyes of Uchiha Sasuke stared back at him.

"S-Sasuke," Naruto stammered from behind Sasuke, his eyes wide with astonishment even as they wetted with tears. "Wh-why?" Sasuke turned around so that he faced the blond, a familiar smirk on his face.

"Looks like you're in my debt again, Dead Last." Naruto froze at the sight of the bloody grin on his friend's face. Sasuke was… smiling. Sasuke was… dying. For a second, that smile remained there, the first true smile Sasuke had given since the death of his clan. Then, after far too short a time, it vanished, replaced by a grimace of pain. The young Uchiha's knees buckled under his weight. Forgetting Madara, Naruto dropped forward onto his knees, catching Sasuke's body as it fell and cradling the dying form in his arms.

"Teme, I… I never wanted you to go like this. Please, don't die!" he sobbed.

"Wipe that lame expression off your face… screw-up." Naruto sobbed again as he recognized the words Sasuke had told him all those years ago when he had sacrificed himself to save Naruto from Haku in the Land of Waves. The first of his tears fell, landing on Sasuke's cheeks.

"You-you said that you broke your bonds, Sasuke. You tried to kill me," Naruto reminded him, more tears falling. A small, genuine smile appeared on Sasuke's face, the first Naruto had ever seen him form.

"You were… the brother… I never had… Naruto." The light faded from Sasuke's eyes as he said the last word. They slowly closed, never again to open. Moments later, his body went limp, collapsing in Naruto's strong arms. He was dead.

Naruto stared at the corpse in his arms, his mind unable to comprehend what had just happened. Sasuke had finally admitted that Naruto mattered to him, had sacrificed himself to save him, and then he had… he had… had… Why? Why couldn't Sasuke ever be allowed to be happy? Why couldn't Madara have missed? Why couldn't the blow have struck Naruto instead, as it had been intended to? Why hadn't Sasuke ever been able to return to Konoha, to be accepted as a comrade by the villagers instead of as a traitor, to see Sakura's smiling face as she welcomed him home? Why had he been denied that? Why?!

Naruto's body shook with heart wrenching sobs that he didn't bother to try and suppress. Shinobi rule number 25 stated that ninja were never allowed to show their emotions; the mission was the number one priority and they should never even shed a tear at the death of comrades. Well Naruto had always stunk at following the rules, and he didn't intend to start following them now. He didn't care if it meant he was a failure as a ninja. If that was what being a ninja really meant, then maybe he should rethink his career. Because there was no way he was going to not cry when Sasuke just… just… He couldn't even think it. It was just too painful.

Madara was standing over him, binding him with chakra-repressing ropes, preparing to take him away to the Akatsuki lair where the Kyuubi would be extracted. Naruto's mind processed this, but refused to comprehend it. It was too preoccupied with trying to understand that hole that had suddenly appeared in his heart. Madara pulled him to his feet and Naruto complied, lacking the energy or presence of mind to resist. He could only follow numbly as he was lead away to meet his death.

Itachi watched the whole scene, his blood-red Sharingan revealing no emotion as he stared at the dead body of his younger brother. It appeared that, like the death of his clan so many years previously, the death of his baby brother meant nothing to the missing-nin.

* * *

Naruto sat in a cell in the Akatsuki lair some hours later, bound with chakra-suppressing ropes, still in shock. Sasuke was dead. His best friend was gone forever. It was a thousand times worse than when the Uchiha had left for Orochimaru. Then, there had still been a chance, however slight, that they could save him and he would come back to them. Now, there was no chance of return. Even the unwavering determination and loyalty of Uzumaki Naruto could not return people from the dead. As much as it pained him to admit it, he really had lost Sasuke for good this time. And that was the hardest part to accept. For the first time, Uzumaki Naruto had failed to uphold his sworn word.

He hadn't even managed to beat the crap out of Madara as revenge for Sasuke. Instead, he had numbly followed; obeying the ancient Uchiha's every command. Now, because of that, he was locked up in this cell. As soon as the Akatsuki could be assembled, at least in hologram form, they would conduct their twisted ritual and extract the Kyuubi from him. They would win, and he would die. Konoha would fall. The world would fall. And, captured and as low on chakra as he was, there was nothing he could do about it.

A sob of frustration and anger tore from the Jinchuuriki's lips. Why? Why had things had to end this way? If he had just been strong enough, Sasuke wouldn't have died; he wouldn't have been captured; the Akatsuki wouldn't have won. If he had been strong enough, none of this would have ever had to happen. If he had been strong enough, he wouldn't have lost to Sasuke at the Valley of the End. But there was no point in dreaming. He hadn't been strong enough then, and he wasn't strong enough now. He could save the villagers in the Land of Waves from the tyranny of Gato; he could defeat both Gaara and Neji; he could finish the jutsu that the Yellow Flash himself had been unable to complete; but he couldn't save his own best friend, and he couldn't save himself. He couldn't succeed where it really mattered. And for that reason, maybe Sasuke had been right all those times. Maybe he really was a "loser," a "dead last," a "clumsy idiot." Maybe he really wasn't fit to be Hokage.

Naruto shook his head angrily to dispel that train of thought. He'd seen people who'd given up hope—those villagers in the Land of Waves and Gaara to name a few—and it wasn't pretty. They had been utterly defeated, not by their enemies, but by themselves. They'd been defeated because they had given up hope, and only when a person lost hope had they truly lost. He couldn't lose his dream. He was Uzumaki Naruto, future Rokudaime Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, _believe it_.

_There's a difference between optimism and stupidity,_ a little voice in his mind chided him.

_Shut up! _Naruto told it. _I've always said that I never quit and I never back down. It's my nindou, my way of the ninja, and I can't forget it now._ He lifted his head, glaring defiantly at the cell door, a gleam of determination returned to his eyes.

_"I never quit and I never back down." "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage." "Someday you'll all have to acknowledge me as the greatest."_

_I said all that and I meant it. I can't back down now, I can't. I still have to prove all of them wrong. I still have to protect everyone. I have to get out of here… _No sooner had the thought completed itself than he began the struggle to break out of his bonds. During his training with Jiraiya he'd taken to keeping a kunai in his right sleeve, just in case. Madara hadn't thought to remove it when he was captured; if he could just reach it now he could use it to cut through his bonds. Naruto squirmed, attempting to maneuver his bound right arm so that he could reach the kunai with his teeth. Almost there, almost there…

He was mere centimeters from realizing his goal when Itachi walked in.

Naruto heard a key turning in the lock on his cell door, but instead of ceasing his efforts to escape, he redoubled them. The Akatsuki were going to kill him anyway; he had nothing left to lose by allowing them to see his attempts to escape. If he could do nothing else, he could at least reach the kunai and hopefully injure one of them before he died.

He did chose to stop and glare however when the identity of his visitor was revealed.

"What do you want, you bastard?" he snapped at Sasuke's elder brother. This man had been the cause of everything. If it hadn't been for him and his lies, Naruto and Sasuke would never have been in that cave; Sasuke wouldn't have died and Naruto wouldn't have been captured. But it was more than that. If it hadn't been for Itachi, Sasuke would still have had his family. Instead of being the miserable, broken teenager Naruto was so familiar with, Sasuke could have been happy. His best friend wouldn't have been hurt if it weren't for the man who he had once called 'brother.' Sasuke would never have wanted his revenge, and that meant that he never would have left Konoha to join Orochimaru. It was all Itachi's fault, all of it.

The elder Uchiha brother did not respond to the question. Instead, in that calm, infuriating way of his, Itachi moved towards Naruto, not a flash of emotion making its way onto his face. Despite himself, the Kyuubi container shrunk back slightly. Itachi smirked at this, the expression altering his face into a form that was so painfully familiar that Naruto could not help but let out a small, strangled sob. When Itachi smirked, his face looked exactly like Sasuke's.

The Uchiha extended his hand towards Naruto, reaching for the bound wrist where his kunai was hidden. Naruto drew back like a wounded animal, unwilling to let Itachi steal his only weapon. The hand that caught his was not the rough hand of one removing a potentially lethal weapon from an enemy. Naruto lifted his gaze in shock, checking that it was indeed Itachi who had grabbed him, and gasped in confusion. Itachi had completely disregarded his knife, though the obvious imprint it was making against the cloth of his sleeve would have made it impossible for him not to have seen it. Instead, his hands were working with the wires binding Naruto… untying them.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, unsure if his eyes were deceiving him.

"Hold still," Itachi ordered him quietly, not pausing for a second. Naruto held still. Maybe it was the smirk that had made him look like Sasuke, but right now, he felt he could trust Itachi. In any case, he might as well allow himself to be freed, if only so that he would have his hands available to fight with when the time came.

With the same ease he dealt with all ninja matters, Itachi had quickly removed the wires tying Naruto's hands together, and had moved on to the ones binding his feet. The Konoha shinobi watched him work for as long as he could stand before asking again.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Itachi finished untying the ropes and raised his gaze so that Naruto's cerulean eyes held his own. The Jinchuuriki gulped as he realized that the Uchiha's eyes were not their natural onyx color, but rather the bloody red of the Sharingan. Even as he watched, the three tomoe that made up the doujutsu **(eye technique)** merged together, forming the higher level of the kekkei genkai.

"Naruto," Itachi addressed him, "I have one request. Keep my little brother safe." Naruto's eyes widened at his statement. _Wh-what?_ Before he could voice the question however, Itachi's eyes opened fully, signifying that one of his doujutsu had been activated. The colors of the cell (not that there were many, other than varying shades of gray) began to blur together, melting into a whirl of color that left Naruto dizzy if he tried to focus on it. Two shapes alone resolved themselves: twin falling droplets, one red like blood and the other clear like water. Two tears shed, one of blood and the other of grief.

"Ninja Art: Reverse of the Pendulum," he heard Itachi's voice say faintly from somewhere beyond the wash of color. The tears broke, shattering on what was probably the ground outside of this senseless whirl of colors. "Repeal of Time no Jutsu."

And then, everything went black and he knew no more.

XXX

The clone's eyes widened at the sight of the four people approaching it. Three of them—the redheaded girl with the glasses, the tall ginger-haired man, and the man with the white hair and pointed, shark-like teeth—were unimportant. They were enemy ninja, yes, and they were probably very powerful, yes, but they were not important. Ordinarily, he probably would have found them very important indeed, but not now. Not when they were accompanied by the fourth ninja—the one in the middle—the man who was at the same time both Naruto's dearest friend and his greatest enemy. The person he would love to defeat and would die to save. Uchiha Sasuke, the sole heir to the Uchiha clan.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he continued forward, not even pausing for a second at the sight of his former best friend.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's clone cried.

That sound was the last it ever made. Sasuke's body connected smoothly with it, the force of the impact great enough to release it at once.

"What the f—" Karin began.

"A shadow clone," Juugo answered her calmly.

"Naruto…" Sasuke began, "he never gives up." It was impossible to tell whether he was complimenting or damning the blond man.

Miles away, the sapphire blue eyes of Uzumaki Naruto widened slightly for a moment as he received the memory of the destroyed Kage Bunshin.

"I found him," he declared, his voice taking on an almost feral edge. Maybe, this time, he could make it there before it was too late. Maybe, this time, he wouldn't lose.

_"Keep my little brother safe."_

Maybe, this time, he wouldn't fail that.

XXX

_And who is to say that this life was the first?_

_

* * *

_**A/N: I repeat, just to make it super clear, THIS IS A ONESHOT. That being said, please, tell me what you thought of the ONESHOT. If you thought that it was absolutely pathetic and you think I should give up writing, I want to hear that. As long as you have a valid reason. And no, "cuz lyk, u ttly suk" is not a valid reason.**


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